Betty at Eight
by Majorrogue
Summary: Short stories centering around an eight year old Betty McRae. Baseball - During the school holidays Betty, her brothers and her brothers' friends hang out. Church - The McRae family go to church, but not everyone stays in there!
1. Baseball

"Hey! They're here, they're here" Alistair shouted as he ran out the front door.

As quickly as they could Benjamin, Thomas and Betty all ran after him. They ran straight down the garden path, through the garden gate, took a sharp left turn, then another until they were on the main track to their farm. Walking towards them were Mrs Cartwright, Mrs Marshal and their four children.

Their mother had followed them out of the house and was waiting at the corner of the garden fence. She watched smiling as her four children raced each other to their approaching friends. When the other women were close enough she waved to them and they waved back happily.

When the grown-ups and Mrs Cartwright and Mrs Marshals daughters had gone into the house, Betty stayed outside playing an impromptu game of tag with the five boys.

Al who was currently 'it' chased the Marshall boy Steve around and managed to just clip him on the shoulder "You're it" he shouted and quickly ran away from the boy. Steve stopped to see who was nearby, he knew Ben was too fast for him as he was the oldest there, he then got a glimpse of Betty out of the corner of his eye and quickly ran in her direction.

Betty was used to being chased so made a dash for it, but she knew not to just run in a straight line and she knew not to run in open ground. She quickly made her way towards the barn where there were hay bales, machinery and other obstacles that she knew better than Steve. As she twisted and turned around hay bales she couldn't help but laugh at how frustrated Steve was getting at not being able to catch her.

After a minute or two of him chasing her and always missing when he reached for her, Steve stopped running. He stood and caught his breath.

"What's wrong? Can't catch a girl?" Betty shouted at him from a safe distance away and laughed

"No." Steve said defiantly "I just thought we were here to play baseball, not tag"

"Come on then" Ben shouted from where he was standing.

They all started towards the other side of the barn, where they had made up a small baseball diamond, and Betty followed. But before she had turned the corner of the barn Steve stopped

"What are you doing?" Steve turned around and said to Betty

"I'm coming to play baseball"

"No you're not" Steve said "No girls" he stood in Betty's way

"That's not fair"

"That's how it is" Steve said. John, Mrs Cartwright's son chipped in with a "Yeah, No girls"

"But I always play with Ben and….."

"Yeah, well, not today" Steve said and pushed Betty's shoulder then walked away.

"Ma? Ma?" Betty shouted as she ran into the kitchen. Her mother was sitting at the long kitchen table with her friends Mrs Cartwright and Mrs Marshal; they all had a cup of tea in front of them.

Betty leaned against the table next to her mother "Tell them."

"Tell who what, Betty?"

"Tell them to let me play." Betty said angrily "The boys won't let me play baseball with them"

"If they won't let you play baseball, why don't you play with Annie and Mary?" Betty's mother said pointing into the parlour. Betty moved slightly from where she was standing to see what Annie and Mary were doing and her heart sank. She moved back to where she was and looked at her mother, she had to be kidding

"Dolls?" she asked her mother in dismay "I don't wanna play with dolls! I wanna play baseball!" she practically shouted. She pushed herself away from the table, stormed out of the kitchen and down the hall and stormed through the screen door letting it slam loudly shut behind her.

Back in the kitchen her mother sighed and sipped at her tea.

"She spends too much time around boys" Mrs Cartwright said smiling and laughed a little

"Hmmm" Betty's mother hummed. She didn't know whether to agree to the statement or not. Yes Betty did spend a lot of time around boys, but she has three brothers, who else was she going to be around on the farm. But she also thought maybe she should do something about it, but what, she didn't know.

Outside Betty sat on the corner of the front porch. From where she sat she could see the boys by the barn playing baseball. She kept looking at them and angrily looking away.

She had been sitting there for a while when her father came in from one of the fields and saw her sulking.

"What are you doing sitting out here on your own, Betty?" he asked

Betty crossed her arms in a huff "They won't let me play with them" she pointed to the boys by the barn "and mum won't do anything about it"

"Why won't they let you play?"

"Because I'm a girl" she spat

"Is that right?" Her father said putting his hand out for Betty to take. "Come on"

She got up and took her father's hand and they walked out of the front yard towards where her brothers and the other boys were playing baseball.

As they approached them Betty's brothers all stopped playing and turned towards their father, they knew what was coming

"Boys." He said "I have told you before about excluding your sister from your games, haven't I?"

"Yes father" Ben said

"Yes" Al answered

Tommy just looked down

Their father looked at them all sternly, then nodded once "Then Betty bats next" he said. He then patted Betty on the back and walked back to the house. The boys were relieved, they had been let off lightly this time, probably because their friends were there. They daren't tell their father that Steve had told them Betty didn't want to play with them, not that Tommy believed him anyway.

With a little worry Betty saw that Steve was standing in the middle of the diamond with the ball, but it didn't stop her. She picked the bat up off the floor and lifted it over her shoulder and readied herself for the ball.

"Let's see if a girl can hit a ball" Steve shouted. She could see a smirk on Steve's face just before he pulled his arm back and threw the ball as hard as he could.

Betty swung the bat and heard the satisfying sound of bat hitting ball. It flew straight over Steve's head and he followed it as it went.

Betty's face lit up. This was definitely not the first time she'd hit a ball, but this is one of the most satisfying.

"Looks like I can" Betty shouted at Steve as she dropped the bat and ran as fast as she could around the diamond.

Betty climbed into her bed and pulled the covers up around her neck.

"You're really good at baseball you know?" Tommy said from under his covers just the other side of the night stand between their beds.

Betty smiled "I like baseball, I like hitting that ball as far as I can" she thought out loud

"You're better than Steve, I think that's why he didn't want you to play, why he told us you didn't want to play"

"You could have said that to him earlier….." Betty said

Tommy screwed up his face "He…. He's so much bigger than me….."

"Yeah…."

"Are you all tucked in?" Their mother said as she walked into their room. She walked to Tommy's bed, pulled his covers up and kissed him, then turned and did the same with Betty "Goodnight, my darlings, sweet dreams"

"Goodnight mother" Tommy said

"Goodnight ma" Betty said "goodnight Tommy"

"Goodnight Betty"


	2. Church

Betty and Tommy were sitting near the back of the church, not listening to what was going on. Their parents, Oma and older brothers were sitting in the pew in front of them.

Betty was swinging her legs under the pew and out in front of her. Both of them were still too small for their feet to touch the floor.

"That tree outside sure has grown" Betty said quietly to Tommy while watching her new shoes come into view and then disappear again.

"It's sure has" Tommy said also watching her feet "Those new shoes are mighty shiny" he said

"Yeah….." Betty said stretching them out in front of her and putting her feet together. She didn't ask for new shoes or a new dress, and she didn't really want either, but when her Oma had come to stay she bought them with her. She didn't think Betty should be wearing all her brothers' hand-me-downs clothes and so, here she was sitting in church in a new dress and new very shiny patent shoes. The family only really went to church when their Oma came to stay. The rest of the time their father said they were too busy on the farm to spare the time.

They sat in silence for a while, Betty still swinging her legs and Tommy playing with a button on his best shirt.

"Do you think anyone has climbed it?" Betty asked looking at her older brother

Tommy looked at her and thought for a second "I bet they haven't"

"That's because no-one's as good at climbing as us" Betty smiled

"We would be the first" Tommy said smiling back cheekily

Betty stopped swinging her legs and looked to see if their parents were paying attention to them. Tommy and her both stayed perfectly still for a moment until they were sure their parents and Oma were concentrating on whatever was going on in the church and not to their two youngest children sitting behind them.

They slowly slid off the pew and while still leaning against it a little sidestepped along the aisle. Their eyes didn't leave the back of their parents' heads until Tommy reached the end of the aisle, they then quickly whirled around the end of the pew, ducked down and made their way to the main doors at the back of the church.

Tommy got to the door first and reached up and grabbed the handle. He pulled on it as hard as he could, but the door was heavier than he had anticipated. Betty, who was still right behind him, reached up and grabbed just above tommy's hand and also pulled. The huge door opened just enough for them both to slide through.

When they were outside they ran to the tree just to the left of the entrance to the church. They stood at the bottom of it and looked up

"Wow" Tommy said craning his neck to see right up the trunk

Betty suddenly sat down on the grass around the base of the tree

"What are you doing?" Tommy asked looking down at Betty, why was she sitting down when they were meant to be climbing up?

"Taking my shoes off" she said unbuckling them

"Oh" Tommy said a little confused, but waited for his sister anyway

Once her shoes were taken off Betty stood back up, put her hands on her hips and looked up at the tree again "Race you to the top" she said smiling devilishly

Without another word they both ran for the tree and started climbing. Every branch or so they would stop and check their path to the highest branches.

When they reached as far up as they could get, they both picked a large branch to sit on. Betty was rather pleased that hers was just a little bit higher than Tommy's.

They both sat with their backs to the main trunk and the branch between their legs. Through the leaves they could just make out the sidewalk in front of the church. Betty leaned forward and leaned against the branch to watch people walk past.

After a while a young couple walked past holding hands and laughing and smiling at each other. Betty and Tommy watched them.

"When I'm older I'm going to get married to a pretty girl and I'm going to hold her hand all the time" Tommy said

Betty turned up her nose "I'm not"

Tommy looked at her confused "But holding hands is really nice though"

"I don't mind holding hands, but I'm not going to get married"

"Why? Everyone gets married and it makes people happy, like mum and dad"

"I don't want some boy telling me what I can and can't do, I get enough of that now" Betty said sitting up and leaning against the tree trunk folding her arms.

"I don't tell you what to do" Tommy said

"I know, that's why you're my best friend" Betty said smiling at him

Tommy smiled back happily and carried on watching people

It felt like they had been up there for hours when they suddenly heard a voice shouting at the bottom of the tree

"Thomas and Elizabeth McRae, what do you think you are doing?" Their mother shouted

They both looked down a little nervously

"Betty, if you have scuffed those new shoes…" Their mother started, but she stopped when Betty said nothing but pointed to the base of the tree. Sitting there in front of it was Betty's new shoes placed carefully next to each other. She knew she'd get in trouble if she marked them, that's why she'd taken them off.

"Both of you get down here right now" she said pointing in front of her and shaking her head.

As they slowly made their descent they could see their Oma standing next to their mother shaking her head as well.

"When we come to church you are meant to _stay_ in church, not sneak out and climb trees" Their mother said as they stood in front of her "Sometimes I wonder if you are children or monkey's" she said pointing towards where the rest of the family was waiting for them. "Go" They started to walk towards them

"Betty?"

"Yes mother" Betty said sullenly, she didn't want to get told off again

"Are you going to leave your shoes there?" Her mother asked, pointing to the bottom of the tree

Betty thought for a second and opened her mouth to say something, but when her mother raised her eyebrows in a way that said '_careful what you say_' she closed it and said "No mother"

She ran to the shoes and picked them up, but didn't bother to put them back on, before running back to Tommy.

As their mother walked behind them with her own mother she noticed just how dirty Betty's dress was and shook her head again.

As they walked along Tommy looked at Betty and smiled "ooh ooh" he said quietly imitating a monkey

Betty looked at him and laughed "ooh ooh oh" she said back, they both started laughing

Tommy then did it again but this time jumped around waving his arms. In fits of laughter Betty did the same, they then started chasing each other around as they made their way home.


End file.
